To fill the natural gas supply deficit made by the country’s declining domestic production and lower pipeline imports from Myanmar, Thailand has returned to the LNG spot market and so far been one of this year’s strongest buyers in Southeast Asia.

“We expect Thailand to continue to buy spot liquefied natural gas cargoes over the coming months due to weak domestic gas production, particularly from the Erawan field, which is the country’s largest,” Kpler senior analyst Laura Page told NGI. “Erawan production has been depressed since last year due to a delayed transfer in ownership of the asset.”

David Hewitt, lead consultant at Hewitt Energy Perspectives agreed, saying “the decline in domestic gas production could see Thailand buy more LNG until production levels...